Ask a McGill Alumnus

Colleges and Universities A-Z McGill University
121

<p>its tough to say, ive mentioned before that it is possible to get a 4.0 at mcgill with enough hard work. that said, i did now a lot more kids with 3.7+ in Managment than in the life sciences, though that is not to say there weren’t a number of them. The courses are inherently different. </p>

<p>Management is a lot of group projects and often a lot of math. if you are good at these types of things and you put in the work you will have success. also, management classes tend to be smaller and more intimate, allowing for more cooperative collaboration.</p>

<p>science is a lot about comprehension of biological systems etc, so memorization is the key to success, there are few prior skills that can help you. and another thing, science is generally full of pre-meds, and as is typical of lower-level courses in the sciences, they are weeder courses designed to separate the hard workers from the rest. because sciences are mostly multiple choice or short essays, if you know the information you will do well on tests, there is little room for subjectivity (though you will encounter some of the most impossible MC questions you will ever see, in which it is impossible to get the wnaser correct without knowing the accuracy of all 6 choices…!)</p>

<p>as for arts, these courses are often very large and demanding in terms of reading quantity and are known for difficult exams. for instance, i had a friend who would write 10-page essay outlines before exams (history and poli-sci), memorize them with quotes, and adapt the essay to the specific questions on the exam. also i have heard of severe grade curving in these large arts programs, essays are often subjective and a TA grading your paper may be informed about how many As and Bs he/she is allowed to award… unfortunate but true. though it may take some time to get the hang of writing the arts exams, getting help from professors and TAs goes a long way toward achieving high marks.</p>

<p>all that said, the general grading system at mcgill is as follows</p>

<p>100-85 A
80-85 A-
75-79 B+
70-74 B-
…50 F</p>

<p>there is some grade deflation, but the best students (ie work hard) are ahead of the ‘curve’, and those that don’t work hard get left in the dust.</p>

122

<p>I was wondering how McGill determines residencies???
Can freshmen get into New Rez??? When do you apply for residencies??? Who gets 1st choice…</p>

123

<p>McGill will contact you (i dont remember if its through minerva or not but i believe so) and ask you to rank your residence preference from most preferred to least. I’m not sure when this is but keep looking through your minerva account and your email. And yes, 99% of freshman live in some sort of residence (including new rez), and probably less than 1% of sophomores (most of which are probably RA’s). First choice is usually reserved for scholarship recipients (who also have the option for single rooms). its a crapshoot, many people don’t pick new rez because of the cost or private bathroom, then again many people like the luxurious feeling. it holds about 700 people i believe on 12 floors, so with an incoming class of probably around 5,000 or so (rough estimate, i am not positive) that gives you an idea.</p>

124

<p>I know I am quite annoying, but klmnop, have you ever heard anything about the Political Science there ? I mean through friends or whatever? :)</p>

<p>Oh yeah, I got a last question: in your opinion what is the best place to be at McGill ?</p>

125

<p>Alerlol,</p>

<p>What about PoliSci specifically? I knew several people in this program. And the best place in terms of what: dorms? apartment location? faculty?</p>

126

<p>Ok Maybe third times a charm:</p>

<p>How selective is their nursing program? Anyone?</p>

127

<p>[Google</a> Translate](<a href=“http://translate.google.com/#]Google”>http://translate.google.com/#) Desole, je ne sais pas beaucoup de la programme de nursing. Tu peux recherche dans la website si tu veux: [Bachelor</a> of Science (Nursing) BSc(N)](<a href=“Bachelor's of Science (Nursing) BSc(N) | Ingram School of Nursing - McGill University”>Bachelor's of Science (Nursing) BSc(N) | Ingram School of Nursing - McGill University)</p>

128

<p>Sorry, not familiar with Nursing at all.</p>

129

<p>klmnop why did you randomly switch to french?</p>

130

<p>Parce que c’est Montr</p>

131

<p>How does McGill prestige compare to U.S. universities??? (ex. UCLA, Berekley, Ivy Leagues,)</p>

132

<p>I applied to UCLA, Berkeley and Brown and Yale- the Ivies are always going to be more prestigious. I’d say Berkley is next within the USA, but internationally they are all respected so…je ne sais pas. </p>

<p>I am probably going to chose McGill over them if i get into one of them even if it means being murdered by my parents. There’s always the ivies for graduate school.</p>

133

<p>I applied to UCLA, Berkeley and Brown and Yale- the Ivies are always going to be more prestigious. I’d say Berkley is next within the USA, but internationally they are all respected so…je ne sais pas. </p>

<p>I am probably going to chose McGill over them if i get into one of them even if it means being murdered by my parents. There’s always the ivies for graduate school.</p>

134

<p>I would place McGill in the same category as: UCLA, Michigan, USC, Virginia and Tufts in terms of academics. Some have compared McGill to the “lesser Ivies”. In terms of the overall university experience, McGill and Montreal are a unique experience that cannot be compared to American schools.</p>

<p>In terms of the USNews rankings, I would place McGill around 25, if McGill were to be evaluated by those criteria.</p>

135

<p>Thanks tomofboston and other alums for this fabulously useful thread. </p>

<p>My D has suddenly gotten very interested in McGill - she applied on a whim early on but she now seems a little less enamored of all the great LACs on her list and location has gotten more important to her. She has also gotten more confident about her ability to navigate a large school. Her HS sent the mid year report very late so she likely won’t get a decision for several more weeks but in the meantime we are scrambling to find out more about McGill. We visited Montreal a few years ago and I think it would be a great experience for her to go to school in Canada. </p>

<p>Right now, she is interested in studying geography or economics to prepare for grad school in urban planning. McGill’s geography and geography/urban systems majors look very good based on the website. Wonder if anyone knows any students with either of these majors and has any idea about the quality of these departments? Also, any information on the quality of the economics department? Many thanks for your input!</p>

136

<p>Well klmnop quite a few quiestions to tell the truth. ^^</p>

<p>First of all, do your friends like the course ?
I have heard it’s the biggest department at McGill, so isn’t there too much competition/pressure/people in classes ? (I know these questions are dumb ones :p)
What are they doing after their degree, or what do people do in general ? It’s only to know what the offers are after graduating from McGill. </p>

<p>And I was speaking about accomodations for I am completly lost, since I have nowhere and nobody to help me…</p>

<p>(I am looking for a residence not to expensive (quite obvious :D) and where the social side is good. I guess that’s all.)</p>

<p>Oh yeah, just a ‘general question’: how good is the social life at McGill, especially for a foreigner ? </p>

<p>Well anyway, thanks for your help, truly appreciate it. If you may only help me for 10% that will be awesome.</p>

137

<p>Hi, i was wondering for McGill Admissions, do they look at unweighted GPA from 9-12, 10-12 or only 11-12, what grades do they calculate GPA???</p>

138

<p>definitely 10+11… I do not believe they look at freshman grades. I know they look at senior grades but I am not sure if they calculate them into GPA because they are “Grades in Progress”</p>

139

<p>Alerlol,
My friends loved the courses. They are very interesting and often the professors wrote the books you use. Poli Sci courses are often some of the hardest courses to get into because of their popularity. And no, you’ll find in most faculties that there isn’t much intradepartmental competition. Everybody is on the same page and is there to learn some interesting stuff. That said, there is a heavy curve for the papers and exams in Poli Sci, so be prepared for B’s and occasional C’s.</p>

<p>People do a lot of things with their poli sci degress, i’d say the majority are either in some form of business and working, in law school, or getting a masters in something like economics or history or something similar. Sorry I can’t be more helpful, but poli-sci is a law-school feeder (though you can easily go to law school with any major) and being only one year out its hard to say if what friends are doing now will be what they will do 10-20 years form now as well…</p>

<p>As for residences, i think the mcgill website has a pretty good rundown of them, if you have any specific questions about them I can help. Also have a read through this thread: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/858326-best-dorm.html?highlight=residence[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/mcgill-university/858326-best-dorm.html?highlight=residence&lt;/a&gt; including the link at the last post. Every freshman is guaranteed a residence, but yes they cost different amounts… how much of a difference can be located on the McGill website. They are all social but in different ways and generally stay to themselves. Again, anything specific will be easier for me to answer… afteryou read that thread.</p>

<p>The social life is like youve never seen. If you want to be active, there are bars, clubs, parties, and other events to go to every single night of the week for most of the year… and there will be some people going out on each one of these days, just gotta find em. Many restaurants are open 24hrs and the city doesn’t really die down until about 4am. Plus everything is close enough of a walk that it isnt a hassle to have fun. If you want to be a bookworm McGill allows for that too. Many of the libraries and study spaces are 24hrs and the campus is close enough that it makes an excellent study spot. Most of the kids do a bit of both. They work hard 4 or 5 nights of the week, and party hard 2 or 3 nights of the week. And when i say hard, i mean study a lot and party a lot. McGill is full of Type A personalities so everyone does everything 100%. Where are you from, I can relate it to there or maybe I’ve met some people from there as well and I can tell you how they liked it.</p>

140

<p>YAY! I got accepted to Interfac. of A&S. </p>

<p>A few questions…</p>

<p>1) does the campus have a close-knit atmosphere, or does it seem more like a commuting school, with students coming and going…? I guess what I’m asking is…in the US, state public schools have a very “college-esque” culture, does McGill have that too? </p>

<p>2) do I have to stay on campus my first year? if not, is it better to or should I try to find an apartment nearby with a roommate? </p>

<p>3) How useful is being able to speak french? </p>

<p>4) is the course load too hard that I wouldn’t be able to work part time while in college?</p>